Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 34.djvu/725

Rh United States is not an important item, being estimated at only $88,600 in 1887. The production of salt shows a slight advance, while that of mineral waters appears to have been stationary.

The chemist who would profit by A Correlation Theory of Chemical Action and Affinity, by Thomas Wright Hall, M. D. (Remington & Co., London, 7s. 6d.), must first learn a new dialect, for the author's strange conceptions are made still harder to grasp by his eccentric language. We are not certain that the present generation is prepared to profit by this book, even if the language were as clear as the "Dayshine," whose influence the author rates above all other forces. "If you narrow and dwarf," says he, "the Photothermal Force to heat and light alone, or to cold and shade alone, or to the petty needs and feelings of Man, or to the ken of his workshops, of his pyrometers, thermometers, photometers, then, indeed, is the August Photothermal Force or Firemight shorn of its true and boundless majesty and value. Not so, however, if it dawn in Science that the sidereal and the planetary shine powers are the Giant Springs of the Firemight which in oscillatory static balance with each other in actual Ethero-molecular matter, and in free Ether evolve the Quintessential Form and Photothermality of the Earth—evolve the Dayshine and Nightshine and the Shapes and colored Loveliness of our Home, the Earth." The above sample will show the character of the book better than a long description.

Mr. James E. Talmage's First Book of Nature (The Contributor Company, Salt Lake City) is a little volume embodying a brief description of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms and the heavens. The doctrine of evolution is not referred to in its pages. The complexion of the book has been determined by the author's desire to show that "Nature is but another name for the will of God as expressed in his works." The volume is illustrated, and is adapted to the reading of young people.

Although relating largely to the election of 1888, True or False Finance (Putnam, 25 cents), in the "Questions of the Day Series," presents the subject of taxing imports on a basis which has a permanent interest—i. e., as a question of raising revenue. The author starts with the proposition that a true system of finance will enable a government to adjust its revenue to its expenditures without the slightest difficulty. He then shows how the growth of commerce has made former tariff exactions enormous at the present time, and gives the ways proposed by protectionists for getting rid of the surplus now in our treasury. The Democratic policy is next stated, the Mills Bill is described, and the effects it would have on the workman, the farmer, the wool-grower, and the country at large are told.

No. 10 of Shoppell's Modern Houses (Cooperative Building Plan Association, New York, 25 cents) has come to hand. It contains designs for twenty-one dwellings and a bank, giving in each case a perspective view, floor-plans, and a brief description. The cost of carrying out these designs is stated in each case, and ranges from-$500 to $15,000. Some general advice on building is given and information concerning the plans, specifications, estimates, etc., which the "Association" is prepared to furnish to those about to build.

Miss Parloa's New Cook-Book (Estes & Lauriat) comes to us in the form of a largepaged pamphlet, crowded with recipes, briefly worded and in small type. A great variety of dishes is described in each of the divisions of soups, fish, meats, vegetables, pies and puddings, cake, dessert, etc. Miss Parloa's name is sufficient guarantee for the excellence of the book.

A Code of Morals, by John S. Hittell (The Bancroft Company), is a little didactic treatise, modeled after the manuals of Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. "Standing on the shoulders of the eminent men who wrote those immortal books," says the author, "making use of their labors, and striving to appropriate the knowledge of our time and to put myself in harmony with its spirit, I have here tried to do for my age what they did for theirs." The manual consists of forty-five brief sections on separate topics, grouped in five chapters, viz., on individual duties, social, industrial, political, and religious duties.

Die Gegenwart (The Present) is a German monthly, twenty-four-page periodical, for the people, devoted to the discussion of